This June, HRC is working with Amazon and Amazon’s employee LGBTQ affinity group, glamazon, to help celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month. HRC and glamazon are releasing a Pride Facts skill for Amazon Alexa -- now, owners of an Alexa will be able to say, “Alexa, tell me a Pride fact,” and the Pride Facts skill will respond with a fun fact about LGBTQ Pride, LGBTQ history, important LGBTQ leaders and figures and other topics. The partnership is an exciting opportunity to celebrate Pride, honor our LGBTQ history and remember that despite all the recent gains we’ve made, there is still a ways to go on the road to full equality for LGBTQ people. This project also helps those who may not be able to attend a Pride celebration in person by bringing Pride to them!

The LGBTQ Pride facts feature more than 90 fun facts in the categories of arts, entertainment, LGBTQ history and politics, among others. The facts cover topics from the first LGBTQ Pride flag (unveiled in 1978), to the first openly transgender person to present at the Oscars (Daniela Vega), to the number of countries across the world that have legalized marriage equality (25) -- all the way from the 1940s to the present day. They also feature how HRC has played an important role in advancing LGBTQ equality, lifting up National Coming Out Day, which started in 1988, and HRC’s annual Time to THRIVE Conference, where Ellen Page came out in 2014.

Pride events are held nationwide in cities large and small, and for some Americans, it is the only occasion where they can be out and proud in their community. Pride is held in June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots in New York City, which marked the beginning of the LGBTQ rights movement in the U.S. Harassed by local police simply for congregating, LGBTQ patrons refused to resign themselves to the shadows of American society, deciding to take a stand and fight back against the brutal intimidation they regularly faced. The events of those nights inspired a social awakening for many in the LGBTQ community and had a profound effect on the nation’s perception of persons who identify as L, G, B, T or Q as a community in and of itself. Learn more about Pride and celebrate with HRC.